Nationality German Education University of London Role Journalist | Name Udo Ulfkotte Occupation Journalist | |
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Similar People Eva Herman, Henryk Broder, Hamed Abdel‑Samad, Michael Bruckner, Akif Pirincci | ||
KenFM im Gespräch mit: Dr. Udo Ulfkotte (Gekaufte Journalisten)
Udo Ulfkotte (20 January 1960 – 13 January 2017) was a German journalist and political scientist. He was an assistant editor for a German main daily newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) for several years until 2003. Between 1997 and his death he published a dozen books, including a number with right-wing populist, Islamophobic and conspiracy theory themes. In articles and books (including his 2014 book, Gekaufte Journalisten ("Bought Journalists"), he has maintained that journalists (including himself) and leading newspapers published material that had been fed to them, or bought, by the CIA and other Western intelligence and propaganda agencies.
Contents
- KenFM im Gesprch mit Dr Udo Ulfkotte Gekaufte Journalisten
- Udo ulfkotte i m fed up of the propaganda we live in a banana republic
- Career
- Political activism
- Journalists for Hire
- Death
- Works
- References
Udo ulfkotte i m fed up of the propaganda we live in a banana republic
Career
Ulfkotte studied jurisprudence and politics in Freiburg and London. Between 1986 and 1998 Ulfkotte lived predominantly in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan.
Ulfkotte was on the staff of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation from 1999 to 2003. He won the civic prize of the Annette Barthelt Foundation in 2003.
Ulfkotte published a magazine called Whistleblower, reporting on topics not covered by the German media.
Ulfkotte was born into a Christian family, but by the age of 21, he abandoned Christianity and became an atheist. While living in Herat, Afghanistan, he converted to Islam. He later returned to Christianity. Ulfkotte had no children.
Political activism
After his departure from FAZ in 2003, Ulfklotte became known for his conspiracy theories, for instance claiming on his Kopp Verlag blog that Barack Obama ordered the burning of bibles, that African sportsmen would "slaughter whites" if allowed in to Germany, or that Muslims were waging "fecal jihad" against Europe.
Ulfkotte was involved in the far right Pro Germany Citizens' Movement. In June 2007, he signed the anti-Islam organisation Bundesverband der Bürgerbewegungen (BDB)'s "Wertheimer Appell" against the "creeping Islamisation" of Germany. The BDB merged with Ulfkotte's Pax Europa organisation to form Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa, but Ulfkotte left this in 2008 after an internal dispute. Pax Europa was affiliated to the anti-Muslim Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) alliance and approached the far-right Belgian party Vlaams Belang (VB) for their assistance. It worked with them to organise an anti-Islamic 9/11 anniversary march in Brussels in 2007, but mayor Freddy Thielemans refused to licence it and it was eventually cancelled, leading to a split between Ulfkotte and SIOE.
Ulfkotte had planned to run for the Hamburg local elections in 2008, as number two on the Centre Party's list, but later withdrew in June/July 2007. In July 2007, Ulfkotte announced he would found a new national party, but this effort failed.
Ulfkotte was a speaker at rallies of the right-wing anti-Islam Pegida movement and the right-wing party AfD.
Journalists for Hire
In 2014, Ulfkotte published the book Gekaufte Journalisten (German Bought Journalists), in which he stated that the CIA and other secret services pay money to journalists to report stories in a certain light. According to Ulfkotte, the CIA and German intelligence (BND) bribe journalists in Germany to write pro-NATO propaganda articles, and it is well understood that one may lose their media job if they fail to comply with the pro-Western agenda. Der Spiegel noted that "Ulfkotte’s book was published by Kopp, a melting pot for conspiracy theorists. Kopp publishes works by ufologists, and by authors who claim the Americans destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center themselves in 2001... Ulfkotte’s critics see the book as a vendetta against the FAZ, which he left on bad terms."
On May 15, 2017 Next Revelation Press, an imprint of US-Canadian-based publisher Tayen Lane, released the English version of Bought Journalists, under the title, Journalists for Hire: How the CIA Buys the News. James F. Tracy wrote on the globalresearch.ca conspiracy theory website that this English translation appears to have been suppressed throughout North America and Europe, that Tayen Lane has since removed any reference to the title from its website, and that, correspondingly, Amazon.com (per 31 July 2017) indicates the title is “currently unavailable,” with opportunities to purchase from independent sellers offering used copies for no less than $1309.09. The book’s subject matter and unexplained disappearance from the marketplace suggest that powerful entities are seeking to prevent its circulation, according to Tracy. Tracy also cites Ulfkotte saying the book "was almost completely ignored by mainstream German news media", although Gekaufte Journalisten sold more than 120,000 copies, lingered on the Der Spiegel bestseller list for 18 weeks, and was reviewed (and ridiculed) in Der Spiegel by Jan Fleischhauer who in June 2015 also wrote a portrait of Ulfkotte which was republished in January 2017. As per 21 August 2017 the web store Book Depository, an Amazon company, is offering preorders of the paperback edition which is due on 30 November 2017 by the same Tayen Lane Publishing.
Death
Ulfkotte died from a heart attack on 13 January 2017 at the age of 56.
Works
These works are all written in German. English translations of the titles are included here.